The answers about model distillation often surprise founders.
I distilled my first model in 2021 and failed miserably. After years of trial and error, I've developed a counterintuitive approach to model distillation that delivers smaller, faster models without sacrificing performance. Here's my step-by-step process.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
A lot of the advice on model distillation rests on assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on.
The first thing to understand is that you need to move fast and break things. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
Many teams spend months on the wrong path before realizing that simplicity beats complexity every time. Once they make the switch, everything changes.
The Counterintuitive Truth
In model distillation, the best practitioners often do less, not more.
The lesson: timing is everything in this game. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Investing early in model distillation can be the difference between raising your next round and running out of runway.
One of my portfolio companies went from struggling to profitable in under a year after they finally got serious about this. The founder told me later that they wished they'd started sooner.
This connects to broader themes around on-device AI, model distillation, small language models that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Final Thoughts
There are no shortcuts in model distillation, but there are smarter paths.
The strongest teams treat model distillation as a competitive advantage, not a checkbox. They invest in it early, measure it obsessively, and never stop improving.
If you're just getting started with model distillation, don't be intimidated. Everyone starts somewhere. The key is to start with the right mindset and the right framework, and then execute like your company depends on it. Because it probably does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:How should I work through this guide?
Don't try to absorb everything in one sitting. Read through once to get the big picture, then go back and work through each section as it becomes relevant to your current challenges. Bookmark it and return to it regularly.
Q:Is this guide based on real experience?
Every recommendation in this guide comes from direct experience, either from building and selling my own companies, or from patterns I've observed across 234 angel investments. I don't write about things I haven't personally tested.
Q:What if I disagree with some of the advice?
Good. That means you're thinking critically, which is exactly what a good founder should do. Take what resonates, test it, and discard what doesn't work for your specific situation. No advice is universal.